One of the best things I have ever made!

I have not yet procured a new laptop, so posts will continue to be slow around here for a little while. But that doesn't mean the cooking has slowed down! I have many new recipes to share, and I want to start with something fabulous I made for dinner last night.

After my first successful attempt at raviolis using wonton wrappers, I wanted to try something a little more exotic. One of my favorite dishes to order at a restaurant is lobster ravioli. But, I couldn't really imagine myself buying a lobster, boiling it, removing it from the pot, and not devouring it right then and there. Lobster is too expensive to just chop it up into bits and use it in a supporting role. Crab, however, is not.

I went online to foodnetwork.com and browsed for crab ravioli recipes and came up with one from the frightening Sandra Lee. Her recipe didn't look all that frightening, except for the Knorr creamy tomato sauce mix she wants you to serve it with. So, I kept browsing until I found Emeril's tomato cream sauce recipe and decided to combine and tweak.

I started with the sauce. I sauteed one small chopped onion in olive oil until soft, and then added a minced clove of garlic. Emeril calls for fresh chopped tomatoes, but I opted for a 14.5 ounce can of Italian style stewed tomatoes.

Since the tomatoes were already seasoned, I skipped the thyme and salt that Emeril calls for and cooked the tomatoes down for less time since they were already stewed. I did use the 1/2 cup of chicken broth and 3/4 cup of heavy cream.

And then I used my immersion blender to puree the sauce. It smelled wonderful, but it tasted just a little flat, so I added some fresh ground pepper and just a pinch of crushed red pepper. Then, it was fabulous.

Next, I worked on the raviolis. I used Bumble Bee pink crabmeat instead of the lump called for in the recipe, and in lieu of Italian seasoning, I added a few dashes of pepper, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and dry parsley.

I mashed it all together with a fork, and then just followed the same assembly procedure as with the other raviolis.

Sandra calls for an egg wash to seal the raviolis, but it is not necessary. Plain water works just fine.

I ended up with 35 raviolis. Sandra also leads astray with her cooking instructions. She advises bringing the water to a full boil and only cooking the ravioli for 2 minutes or until they float on the surface. I didn't think that sounded long enough, so I tested one and it was still very gummy and chewy. I went back to the original cooking instructions I used for my first batch of ravioli - 6 minutes at a low boil. I also added the rest of the can of chicken broth to the cooking water, as well as the drained juices from the crab.

I mixed the raviolis with the sauce and topped with a little parmesan cheese. The dish was fantastic! My husband said the only thing that could have made it better was if I served it with some crusty bread to dip in the sauce. He's right. Some good bread would have been perfect. I'll remember that for next time, since there will definitely be a next time, and a third time and fourth time...

For the sauce: heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and their juices. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add the broth and the tomato paste. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and cook until reduced by half again, about 6 minutes.

Add the butter, and when melted, puree the sauce with an immersion blender. Add ground pepper and cracked red pepper to taste, and keep warm on low heat.

For the raviolis: Drain the crabmeat and reserve the juice. Combine the crabmeat, ricotta, and seasonings. Place about a half teaspoon of crab mixture on each wonton wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water and fold over to seal.

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil, adding reserved crab juice and any leftover chicken broth from the sauce. Turn the heat down to a low boil and add the raviolis. Cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Combine with sauce, and top with parmesan cheese if desired.